The Death of Stalin

The Death of Stalin is a 2017 political satire black comedy film written and directed by Armando Iannucci and co-written by David Schneider and Ian Martin with Peter Fellows. Based on the French graphic novel La Mort de Staline (2010–2012), the film depicts the internal social and political power struggle among the members of Council of Ministers following the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953. The French-British-Belgian co-production stars an ensemble cast that includes Steve Buscemi, Simon Russell Beale, Paddy Considine, Rupert Friend, Jason Isaacs, Olga Kurylenko, Michael Palin, Andrea Riseborough, Dermot Crowley, Paul Chahidi, Adrian McLoughlin, Paul Whitehouse, and Jeffrey Tambor. The film premiered on 8 September 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and was released theatrically in the United Kingdom by Entertainment One Films on 20 October 2017, in France by Gaumont on 4 April 2018, and in Belgium by September Film Distribution on 18 April 2018. It received critical acclaim and various accolades, including nominations for two British Academy Film Awards (one of which was for Outstanding British Film) and 13 British Independent Film Awards (four of which it won). There was fierce opposition to the film in Russia, where it was seen as "anti-Russian propaganda", and it was banned there, as well as in Kyrgyzstan, for allegedly mocking the Soviet past and making fun of the USSR. Plot On the night of 1 March 1953, Joseph Stalin calls the director of Radio Moscow and demands a recording of the live recital of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 that has just concluded. The performance was not recorded, so the director, not wanting to anger Stalin, hurriedly refills the now-half-empty auditorium, fetches a new conductor to replace the original one (who has fainted), and orders the orchestra to play again. Pianist Maria Yudina initially refuses to perform for the cruel dictator, but ultimately is persuaded to comply. Meanwhile, Stalin is hosting a tense, but rowdy, gathering of members of the Central Committee at his home, Kuntsevo Dacha. As Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov leaves, NKVD-head Lavrentiy Beria reveals to Nikita Khrushchev and Deputy Chairman Georgy Malenkov that Molotov is to be part of the latest purge. When the recording of the performance arrives, Stalin finds a note that Maria managed to hide in the record sleeve, in which she admonishes him and expresses her hope for his death.